In recent years a growing number of telephone services have become available to users of telephone services. Such services include, for example, call forwarding, call waiting, conferencing, and caller identification.
Caller identification, or Caller ID, has become particularly popular as it allows called parties a certain degree of call screening prior to answering a call. In a typical case, the called party's telephone has a caller ID screen or a stand-alone attached caller ID device. When the called party receives a call, caller identification information on the calling party, including the date and time of the call, and often the name and number of the calling party, is displayed on the screen of the called party's caller ID device.
Typically, the called party receives the call, and the called party must rush to the telephone to determine who is calling by reading the caller ID screen on the called party's caller ID device. Most often, one of three caller identifications is provided to the called party. One, the identification is a name and/or number known to the caller, for example, a friend, family member, or associate. Two, the identification is a name and/or number unknown to the called party, or three, no name or number is provided, and the screen reads “private,” “unlisted,” “out of area,” or the like. For called parties who are hearing impaired, the problem is greater because the hearing impaired party first must be alerted to the ringing telephone by an alarm, such as a flashing light, before the hearing impaired party can rush to the telephone to read the caller ID screen.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the present invention has been made.